Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Novelist Ayelet Waldman discusses a problem nearly all writers have in an excellent little piece in the Nov. 27 Wall Street Journal (Beware the Trap of ‘Bore-geous’ Writing).

Waldman defines bore-geous witing as “meticulously constructed writing that bores even its author…A bore-geous novel is one that is packed with gorgeous, finely wrought descriptions of places and people, with entire paragraphs extolling the slope of one character’s nose, whole chapters describing another’s perambulations through a city…Bore-geousness happens when you are writing beautifully but pointlessly.”

Sound familiar?

Every writer we’ve ever worked with – or ever been – has fallen in love with a phrase, an image, a coined bit of language so clever that it seems impossible to leave it out despite its lack of value or appropriateness to the overall work.

To quote Waldman further:

“When rewriting, I inevitably find passages that aren’t necessary
to the plot…Usually I’m convinced that these passages are among
the most gorgeous things I’ve ever written. It’s then that I remind
myself of Faulkner’s painful advice: ‘In writing, you must kill your
darlings.’

“Good narrative writing must defend itself. Every sentence, even
every word, must be there for a reason beyond its beauty. It must
move the story along, pushing it toward what comes next. Good
writing can and should be beautiful, but it must never be only beautiful.
Bore-geous is always too much, and never enough.”

One final point on Waldman’s writing lesson. Note when she discovers her writing excesses – when she’s rewriting. More on that topic later.

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If you want to sell lots of books, it’s self-evident that you first must write a really good, readable book. Whether you’ve done that or fallen a little short of the mark, it’s a cinch you won’t sell many books if the summary you present to potential buyers showcases poor writing and drab thinking.

These examples were discovered in just a few minutes perusing summaries in the ebook section of lulu.com. We have changed just a few words in some of the excerpts to prevent any embarrassment, but the essentials remain. As a reader, would you buy these books?

Mistakes in a summary are good predictor of careless workmanship in the book itself.

“The 19th century may have seen the United States embroiled in a
bitter War of Succession (as opposed to a war over secession)...”

“The lightening (not lightning) was crashing and the thunder was
rolling as Annie Rogers stood on that bridge looking down at the
river below. “

If the blurb begins, “This book is about…,” you’re not likely to be drawn in. The chances that the sentence will end “a maniacal ship captain obsessed with killing a great white whale” are slim.

“This is the story of a man who shot his wife's lover and thus
created a memory which wrecked his own life.”

“This book allows us into the life of Danny Clyde; inside his thoughts and motivations to create, his will to sculpt and survive, and what experiences have brought him thus far.”

Nothing says unprofessional like bad punctuation – or the weird use of capital letters.

“There are Many Ways to be able to travel with your family and
make it a memorable and also Enjoyable Trip for You and Your Family!”

“In the far future, Earth is a worn-out backwater and humanity is spread
across the galaxy on worlds that began as colonies, but now feel like home,
each with its own long history of a thousand years or more, and each with
its own unique culture.

“Life hasn’t been easy for Celia Colby, raised by a single mother, money’s
been tight, but it’s about to get a whole lot worse.”

Our intention is not to demean the work of any of these authors, each of whom has invested the time, effort and expense to write and publish a book.

Chances are these summaries accurately reflect the books they describe. But if your book is well written, properly punctuated and doesn’t contain spelling or factual errors, make sure your summary is working for you, not against you. Perhaps as much as any other aspect of writing a book, the time spent perfecting your first communication with the reading public is critical to your sales success.

Lots of bright, knowledgeable people with much to say are writing fiction and nonfiction books these days. Many are brilliant lawyers, business people, scientists, teachers or sales reps but lack a full understanding of the rules of grammar, punctuation and style. Some write well word-to-word but do not know how to structure a book, or even a chapter.

The Furlow Writing Lab, hosted by Two-for-One Editing, offers bite-size lessons and tips based on common problems we see in the works of new authors. Without embarrassing authors, whom we admire for their willingness to put themselves on the line, we use this space to point to good and bad examples that can help us all improve our writing.

Equally important, we solicit your questions about your own work or passages you have read and wondered about in the works of others. The blog should not be a mere tutorial but a conversation about what makes good writing.

Davilynn and Bill Furlow are longtime editors who worked for many years at the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. They have run a communications consulting practice and done all manner of writing and editing for a wide range of clients. Now they’re focused on books, with a particular interest in working with authors who are very serious about what they’re doing but who need high-end editing to turn their manuscripts into professional-quality books. (See more about the Furlows at www.twoforoneediting.blogspot.com)

Very few among us are natural writers. Writing is hard work. Even mastery of grammar, punctuation and spelling doesn’t guarantee a well-written book. For example, how much description of a person or place is enough, and when does more detail become tiresome and counterproductive? When should the rules be obeyed, and when should they be broken for the sake of clarity or emphasis? How can a writer tell whether his or her work will have the desired effect on readers?

Welcome to The Furlow Writing Lab. Come on in and join the conversation.

About Me

Davilynn & Bill admire authors and want to help those with excellent books find an audience. As readers, we enjoy discovering writers who haven't yet hit the big time but well may. And as editors of books, we're always looking for talented writers to work with.
The Furlows are former Los Angeles Times editors who left Southern California in 2005 to return to their Southern roots. They are interested in working with authors who may not be experienced but who are serious about the success of their books. Click here to learn more about Davilynn and Bill.